Why Join a Synagogue?

For some people, the question isn’t “which synagogue should I join?” but “why should I join any synagogue?” Maybe your memories of synagogues involve boring hours in religious school, or old, bearded men reciting prayers in mile-a-minute Hebrew. Maybe you look at the state of the world and wonder how anyone can still believe in a just God. Maybe for you being Jewish is more about using the occasional Yiddish word or eating chopped liver instead of paté. What could joining a synagogue possibly add to your life?

Try these on for size:

Jewish fellowship: When Israelis were huddling in sealed rooms as Saddam’s Scud missiles fell on Israel, Jews who hadn’t been in synagogue in years suddenly started showing up for services. Sometimes you just need to be with your fellow Jews, most dramatically in a crisis, but sometimes just because other Jews are your mishpacha, your family in a way that non-Jews aren’t. Synagogues are a way to find a community that expresses the Jewish side of your life, no matter how large or small it looms in your experience.

Asking questions: Jews have been wondering about big issues like God and Justice and Doing the Right Thing for millennia. The answers that they have come up with aren’t always what you’d expect; one story in the Talmud has rabbis debating a point of law, and reacting to a heavenly voice supporting one interpretation by saying “You stay out of this; You gave us the law, but it is now ours to interpret.” Judaism is a remarkably dogma-free religion which encourages learning and questioning, even questioning traditional views of God. Synagogues are places to do that learning and questioning, not places to be given the Truth. A rabbi’s sermon or drash (Biblical interpretation), an adult education class, even schmoozing with friends after services can take you along a road to better understanding of what you may have been rejecting.

Helping others: Jews have had more than their share of tragedy, and it has tended to sensitize us to the tragedies of others. Certainly you don’t need a synagogue to give of your time and resources; there are plenty of worthwhile secular organizations like the Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity. But for us, helping others has a special Jewish spin, captured best in Deuteronomy 16:20, “Justice, justice shall you pursue.” Only the Hebrew word usually translated as Justice also means Righteousness, doing the right thing – for us, they are the same. Synagogues are a good place to get involved in social action, and a good synagogue will help you grow your own talents to better pursue righteousness, whether it is working with the homeless in your area, supporting fellow Jews in other countries, or even helping to run the congregation as a lay leader.

Being quiet: We live in an ever-faster world, multitasking to keep up. It is hard to find time to just be with ourselves, to think, to reflect. Religious services offer a recurring “time out” from the week’s or day’s rush. There can be comfort in the repetition of familiar words, even words in another language. Many of us are not sure whether anyone hears what we pray, but we pray nevertheless, not for God’s sake, but for our own sake, and surrounded by a community. Some of us sometimes feel the Presence of God, and some of us never do. But the most satisfied among us know that prayer is ultimately about the balance between looking inward to our selves and outward to our community. Synagogues are places where this can happen, if we let it.

Passing the torch: The Jewish people has outlasted almost all of the renowned empires of the past because each generation has passed Jewish knowledge and Jewish spirit to the next. Each of us is a link in a great chain which stretches back four thousand years to the time of Abraham, and each of us must decide whether to continue that chain or break it. If we have children, this becomes a decision about providing a Jewish education for them. But with or without children, it becomes a decision about ourselves. Do I wish to be part of something which has endured for so long, and against such odds, or am I willing to see this identity perish? Cyrus Adler, faced with the same question, said “what has been preserved for four thousand years was not saved that I should overthrow it.” Joining a synagogue is a concrete expression of that spirit.